Thinking with machines: Some reflections on LLMs in academia

As somebody who studied computer science in the early 2000s, I find large language models (LLMs) like GPT and Claude an extraordinary, science-fiction-like technology. While sharing many concerns with sceptics like Gary Marcus, I believe LLMs are so disruptive because they truly are amazingly good at understanding natural language and performing countless tasks that used … Continue reading Thinking with machines: Some reflections on LLMs in academia →

Some tax tips for UK academics

The current killer combo of 2-digit inflation, insane energy bills, a weak pound, and stagnant wages is leading me to try and protect my finances as well as possible, mainly through tax optimisation (which is not tax avoidance). For this reason, in the past few weeks I have learnt many interesting things about the UK tax and financial … Continue reading Some tax tips for UK academics →

10 tips for interdisciplinary research careers

Interdisciplinarity has been a hot topic in academia for several decades and is probably here to stay. Having done interdisciplinary research for almost 10 years in the UK/US academia, I feel I am in a position to offer my advice regarding the challenges and rewards of crossing the treacherous boundaries of disciplines (and departments). For a … Continue reading 10 tips for interdisciplinary research careers →

Bullshit (academic) jobs

Some good quotes from Bullshit Jobs: A Theory (David Graeber, 2018): Most universities in the United Kingdom now have public relations offices with staffs several times larger than would be typical for, say, a bank or an auto manufacturer of roughly the same size. Does Oxford really need to employ a dozen-plus PR specialists to … Continue reading Bullshit (academic) jobs →

Why this blog?

This blog has the purpose of collecting news, tutorials, and short pieces that cannot easily fit academic outlets such as journal articles and conference proceedings. The blog form has the advantage of being less transient than social media posts, as well as being more searchable through search engines. The subjects I am interested in are … Continue reading Why this blog? →